wana build a PC to edit hmc footage

jambredz

jambredz

Veteran
Ok...i have about $1200 (excluding monitors)working with. I want to get an hmc 150 by end of january hopefully. However I want to set up an editing suit on a whole cuz i dont have a propper one.at the moment. So with the expectancy of upgrading cams (from dvx) i need a PC that can handle AVCHD with room to upgrade in the future. I was goin to go with buying a ready made machine because i have ZERO knowledge in building a PC. However some people on here have advised me my $ will stretch more and get beefier system if i build. My friend agreed to build it for me but i need to buy the parts. So if you guys are so inclined to help...i'd appreciate it.

Looking for an i7 system with about 6-8gb ram. very good graphics card.

I will be running premier pro cs4 and after effects hopefully.

Is this possible on this megre budget? or what do you guys recommend and where can i buy it the parts?

A detailed list would help cuz as i said i have zero knowlege about building. I just use the product :) (remember this doesn't include monitors...just the tower) Ive seen the system requirements that u hmc users state all around...but i'd really like a consolidated list of parts and where i can buy them.
 
www.newegg.com
www.zipzoomfly.com

competitive pricing. avchd isn't that intensive, u might save more money NOT getting an i7 for now. but it feature proofs u in a bit when u get more money for a beefier processor. i'd go for the lowest priced lowest speed i7 quad core. go for a gigabyte or evaga motherboard, keep that in the 100-130 dollar range.

cases from coolmaster you can get for 50 bux, always sales on power supply, 650 watt to 750 watt will do, read the reviews on newegg. that will help u with ur decisions.

you can find sales for a 9800 gtx video card for a little over a hundred bux these days. they are still beefy and you can always upgrade to a more high end video card down the line.

ram is cheap, keep it tri channel ram, some more trusted ram is corsair, ocz, crucial, patriot, and g skill. kingston too but they are overpriced.

and then there's just internal hard drives. you get get a 1 tb seagate for 90 dollars these days. and buy a copy of windows 7 64 bit and you should be set...
 
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/264258-31-system-editing-adobe-premiere

Read through that thread, it is an absolute goldmine. It's essentially a dozen or more people, in your (and mine, actually) exact situation. Pay particular attention to all of the posts by specialk90, he's an angel because he knows a lot of details about making AVCHD run in Premiere Pro CS4, and exactly where to spend your money to get the best bang for the buck.

About $1200 is right around the ideal budget for a great i7 system. So read through the entirety of that topic (it's long, took me about 40 minutes or so), because I walked away with a great sense of how much to spend, and where to spend it (on parts and retailers) to get the best bang for the buck.

The information is only a few months out of date so I'd say all of the advice is still relevant. Prices might be 5% lower or so, but not much has changed. All the advice there is top-notch.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/264258-31-system-editing-adobe-premiere

If you still have questions after that, bring 'em back here, because that thread is sort of dead now.
 
What the other said... Plus. Don't skimp on the PSU and case. I went for a Lian-Li case as well as PSU, they are both top quality!
 
again, it doesn't take a lot to cut hmc footage, my mac book can cut it no problem, a custom built 1200 dollar pc is going to kill it. and that's the beauty of pc's, upgrade whenever u want and have the money when u don't feel like things are fast enough for you. have ur friend who's helping u build it give u some advice too, u don't wanna end up ordering something that doesn't plug in right. i've had so many friends order a power supply that doesn't have enough pins to plug into the motherboard and we end up running around looking for an adapter cable and so on. it's more of a pain than it sounds.
 
I just built an i7 920 system with 6gb ram, 1TB HD and a 22" monitor for under $1200 including shipping and tax.

Edius still won't play HVCHD without stuttering even though the processor is only running at 17%.

I too will likely be giving premiere a try. I come from AVID land so I'm on the fence if I should just transocde then edit anyway. Less editing problems that way, but some stuff we shoot needs a fast turn around and is a fairly simple edit so native editing would be handy for times like those.

So.. is it only Priemire CS4 that has been able to crunch through the AVCHD codec without stuttering? I know that even the just released avid composer 4 won't handle it native (though it will for AVC-I).

Ultra has a power supply that is failry cheap, but built great with way more power ends than you'll likely need.

Keep in mind a lot of i7 boards no longer handle IDE so if you have any IDE or DVD drives laying around you will need an ext case for them. (Not that any large HD has been IDE for years now but a lot of DVD burners were).

"Ultra LSP 750 Pro Lifetime Series" is what I have.
 
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odd, i thought edius was supposed to eat up avchd alive... editing natively is always nice, but realize you are still working with a long gop codec, and other then xdcam codec there are none that really cut that easily, it's more about software optimization rather than raw hardware power. hardware is only as good as the software. honestly, i HATE premiere, and coming from avid land also i've moved to fcp just because of pro res essentially. easiest fall back codec in the universe. just turn down the real time settings and it should be ok.

i think u should just stick with avid since u know it better and stick with dnxhd, transcode can be long but premiere is less stable, more quirky, even more so then avid, and really doesn't have a mastering codec to call its own yet...
 
xmephestox said:
odd, i thought edius was supposed to eat up avchd alive... editing natively is always nice, but realize you are still working with a long gop codec, and other then xdcam codec there are none that really cut that easily, it's more about software optimization rather than raw hardware power. hardware is only as good as the software. honestly, i HATE premiere, and coming from avid land also i've moved to fcp just because of pro res essentially. easiest fall back codec in the universe. just turn down the real time settings and it should be ok.

i think u should just stick with avid since u know it better and stick with dnxhd, transcode can be long but premiere is less stable, more quirky, even more so then avid, and really doesn't have a mastering codec to call its own yet...
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Yeah, that's why I said "Less editing problems". I really wish this codec was a 25-i version of avc intra.
Native editing would only be for those quick turnaround simple edits. We some times have clients that hire us to be mostly cam ops and just want some trimmed down footage that they can then use in their own edit.

Native editing is not a crucial thing, though I would like to be able to at least look at the footage in the the clip monitor without stuttering. If VLC can do why not NLE's?

I may just stick with AVID but I have been looking around at other NLE's since I find AVID slow to adapt and the interface, while familiar, tends to be more "clunky". Kinda like driving your Grandpa's old classic Buick compared to a smart car.

I really wish Apple would just port FCP to PC. I like to custom build my systems. Can't do that with a Mac. I have used both but went with PC due to power/cost ratio.
 
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fcp won't got to pc cause it's not a mac :)

premiere is best known for compatibility, but less known to be a polished NLE pro's are used to and only expect.

agreed on the native cutting portion, have u tried turning down your playback settings in edius (never worked with it) to see if u can get real time on it?

avid i wouldn't say is slow to adapt, they've been making upgrades lightning fast compared to what they used to, it's just the sheer fact that they don't really care about prosumer to consumer codecs. they built their company for a professional setting, ie rack rooms, turn key systems etc. avid was never built to conform to codecs and formats, codecs and formats are supposed to conform to avid cause in the avid universe, working with avid code is the best way of quality assurance and control. when ur working with 15 different codecs in the same timeline and start running into problems, you'll realize why avid turns everything into 1 single codec it works with, so if there is a problem it's easier to root out
 
***OT*** ***OT ***OT***

Total apologies for the off-topic post! I know it's about building a PC and nothing at all to do with Mac alternatives - again apologies - however, for those who are using FCP keep in mind:

The new 27" iMac has desktop 2.8GHz Core i7 chips at a cost of about $2400 with 8GB RAM and 1TB HDD.

That's twice what the OP suggested, but I'd like to point out one detail: he suggested $1200 without the monitor. Consider, that the monitor the iMac uses is an IPC LED backed monitor - those are about $1000 anywhere, these are very expensive monitors. So the actual cost of the Mac if you think in those terms is $1400 + $1000 or only about $200 over his budget. Now, no question one can get a $100 monitor in 20"-24", but if you want a very high quality monitor, you'll be paying a lot more. One caveat: the iMac is glossy, which can be a big complication.

Just wanted to throw this out, for those who are on FCP and wondering how to get a quad CPU without breaking the bank on a Mac Pro. The new 27" iMac with the BTO Ci7 is a fantastic deal (in Apple land, that is :)).

Again, apologies for the OT.
 
keep in mind he might already own adobe (and i'm talking as if he doesn't have any other "connections" for software) and going to fcp will cost him another 1200 dollars.
 
xmephestox said:
fcp won't got to pc cause it's not a mac :)

premiere is best known for compatibility, but less known to be a polished NLE pro's are used to and only expect.

agreed on the native cutting portion, have u tried turning down your playback settings in edius (never worked with it) to see if u can get real time on it?

avid i wouldn't say is slow to adapt, they've been making upgrades lightning fast compared to what they used to, it's just the sheer fact that they don't really care about prosumer to consumer codecs. they built their company for a professional setting, ie rack rooms, turn key systems etc. avid was never built to conform to codecs and formats, codecs and formats are supposed to conform to avid cause in the avid universe, working with avid code is the best way of quality assurance and control. when ur working with 15 different codecs in the same timeline and start running into problems, you'll realize why avid turns everything into 1 single codec it works with, so if there is a problem it's easier to root out
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Agreed, though AVID is loosing a lot of new editors to the other systems. Though once you know how to edit and of if you have talent then, in the end, NLE's are just tools. That said, it comes down to tools that are sharp and reliable.

In the end I'll probably have AVID, Edius and Premire on this machine.

Now if Mr' Jobs would just give up on the hardware business and release OSX to the general PC building public... I could then have my cake and eat it too. lol
 
ATL Media Group said:
What the other said... Plus. Don't skimp on the PSU and case. I went for a Lian-Li case as well as PSU, they are both top quality!
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ATL is right on with this reccomendation.

You really need a big case for space and cool running. I also have a Lian-Li case and they are expensive, but cool running and extremely nice.

For ultimate performance, you have to build your own computer, but you will pay a premium if you use all high end parts. If you figure a new OS, $1,200 will be cutting it close.

PC OEMs only have to pay Microsoft a very small percentage of the PC unit cost for the OS. That makes it harder to build a machine for the cost of an OEM PC is you need a new OS for some reason.
 
Denwa said:
Agreed, though AVID is loosing a lot of new editors to the other systems. Though once you know how to edit and of if you have talent then, in the end, NLE's are just tools. That said, it comes down to tools that are sharp and reliable.

In the end I'll probably have AVID, Edius and Premire on this machine.

Now if Mr' Jobs would just give up on the hardware business and release OSX to the general PC building public... I could then have my cake and eat it too. lol
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true dat yo. there's always hackintosh but it's a pain... eh just cut, make something out of nothing, make gold out of trash, and whatever you use to do the job, at least you did it right? it's what editors do...
 
yup. Im comfortable with Abobe. But thatnks for the suggestion non the less.

I'm taking heed to all ur advice. thanks guys


xmephestox said:
keep in mind he might already own adobe (and i'm talking as if he doesn't have any other "connections" for software) and going to fcp will cost him another 1200 dollars.
Click to expand...
 
xmephestox, you ever use pinnacle? I've never touched it but they have been AVID owned, what? 3 years now? Curious to how that has changed development.

OH, Jambreadz. If you go/went with i7. Add good fans. That chip runs damn hot.
 
For that price you may be able to snag an HP with an i7 920 processor, 8GB's or so of ram, and 750MB video, with 1TB HDD. Now with that you have the basic hardware to edit.

I would shop for one right off of HP's site. You want to look at e9180t series. BTW, that is how/where I bought mine and it has been a good experience.

But keep in mind that's just a starting point. Two good choices for AVCHD editing are Premiere CS4 (get the Production Premium suite if at all possible--its the cheapest way to get Premiere with After Effects, plus Encore), or Vegas 9. That will set you back an additional $600 (Vegas suite) to $1600 (for Production Premium), give or take.

Then at some point in the near future you will also need to allow for 3 extra drives one for project files, 2 for backup ( C drive and project files).

But if you do make the investment (and I did), you will have an extremely capable rig that will allow you to produce projects in rapid order. In the long run--short run, too--I definately believe it's worth spending a little extra to get it set up like that.
 
I still think you have more options building your own or getting someone to build it for you. For one you can select which motherboard you want. Exactly which components you want. And case and PS.
 
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